Lord Rooker: Defra does not have a target to reduce total costs to farmers by 25 per cent. However, we do have a commitment to reduce administrative burdens by 25 per cent by 2010.
	Lord Davidson's review on the implementation of EU legislation, published on 28 November 2006, found that the unnecessary over-implementation of EU legislation may not be as widespread in the UK as is sometimes claimed. It is sometimes beneficial for the UK economy to set or maintain regulatory standards that exceed the minimum requirements of European legislation.
	However, the review did conclude that there were areas in the stock of legislation where regulatory burdens can be removed. The review included three Defra case studies: on waste legislation, on fisheries legislation and on the herd register for bovine animals. It makes specific recommendations for Defra in these areas. The report also includes wider recommendations to encourage the spread of best practice across departments in the implementation of EU legislation. Some of these build on Defra's existing best practice work.
	Defra's 2006 simplification plan, Maximising Outcomes, Minimising Burdens, will be published on 11 December and will be available on the Defra website at www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/regulat/requlat.asp. Copies of the plan will also be placed in the House Library. The Defra simplification plan will take forward the specific simplification proposals from Lord Davidson's review. In addition, the more generic recommendations which aim to further strengthen the implementation of EU legislation in the future will, if they are not already, be incorporated into our programme of better regulation culture change.
	The plan reports on the key findings from the cross-Whitehall exercise to measure the administrative burdens imposed by regulations, and how these burdens fall on different stakeholders. It also details simplification projects, many already under way, which will ensure that Defra meets its commitment to reduce administrative burdens by 25 per cent by 2010. Reducing these burdens is just one aspect of better regulation and the plan details initiatives that will improve the way in which Defra and its delivery bodies interact with business. We are working with business stakeholders, including the National Farmers' Union, to develop these initiatives and to help to monitor our delivery of the plan as a whole.
	Defra's farm regulation and charging strategy, Partners for Success, was launched on 28 November 2005. The strategy commits the Government to improving the way in which we regulate (and enforce regulation) and to reducing bureaucracy. This will improve farmers' capacity to help to protect the environment, animal health and welfare, food safety and worker safety. It is available on the Defra website at www.defra.gov.uk/farm/policy/regulation/charge/index.htm.

Lord Rooker: The integrated pollution prevention and control (IPPC) directive applies an integrated environmental approach to the regulation of industrial activities. This means that emissions to air, water (including discharges to sewer) and land, plus a range of other environmental effects, including noise and vibration, must be considered together before a permit is granted. IPPC aims to prevent emissions and waste production and, where that is not practicable, to reduce them to acceptable levels.
	The regulator must set permit conditions so as to achieve a high level of protection for the environment and human health as a whole. These conditions are based on the use of the "best available techniques", which balances the costs to the operator against the benefits to the environment and human health.
	Regulatory costs have to be met by those whose activities cause the need for them and so cannot be waived. Intensive livestock installations will be charged £3,331 for a permit application and then annual charges of £2,229 for a small installation and £2,794 for a large one. The IPPC directive applies only to poultry installations with places for more than 40,000 birds and to installations with places for more than 2,000 production pigs or 750 sows. Large units are those greater than 10 times the lower threshold—that is, those greater than 400,000 birds, 20,000 production pigs or 7,500 sows.
	On 19 May, the industry accepted an offer from the Environment Agency whereby, provided that permit applications are received evenly through the 1 November 2006 to 31 January 2007 application period, a subsistence charge of £1,471 for an existing small installation and £1,844 for an existing large one will be charged to industry from August 2007 until March 2008. This represents a substantial saving to industry.
	The IPPC directive is required to be implemented in its entirety in all member states by 2007. In the UK, the farming sector is among the last to be regulated by the national transposing regulations (with the exception of new installations). Most other industrial sectors have had to apply for an IPPC permit and comply with the provisions of the IPPC regime sooner than intensive livestock.
	Some EU member states may not charge for IPPC permit applications, but may recover varying proportions of their costs from the regulated industry, while others bear the cost in general taxation. This is a political decision for each national Government. The differing practices that are in place make it difficult to make comparisons of the costs to producers across the EU.
	I met representatives of the industry recently and assured them that I would look again at what might be able to be done to reduce the costs of these regulatory requirements.

Lord Warner: Waiting times for pure tone audiometry by strategic health authority are set out in the following table:
	
		
			 Audiology services by region 
			 September diagnostic return—commissioner, 15 November 2006 
			 SHA code SHA name DiagID Diagnostic name Total waiting Number waiting 13+ weeks Number waiting 26+ weeks 
			  National 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 127,280 82,057 58,289 
			 Q30 North-east 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 1,078 499 186 
			 Q31 North-west 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 14,028 8,186 5,120 
			 Q32 Yorkshire and the Humber 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 13,223 10,470 8,666 
			 Q33 East Midlands 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 8,879 5,603 4,126 
			 Q34 West Midlands 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 28,624 19,138 15,005 
			 Q35 East of England 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 3,888 1,642 711 
			 Q36 London 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 6,018 3,241 1,339 
			 Q37 South-east Coast 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 15,982 11,989 8,912 
			 Q38 South Central 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 11,289 5,945 3,535 
			 Q39 South-west 6 Audiology—pure tone audiometry 24,270 15,343 10,689 
			 Source: DM01

Lord Warner: Our intention is to publish the action plan early in 2007. It is clearly essential that it should be informed by the views of the broad range of stakeholders, including the professional bodies, and that it should command broad support wherever possible. A working group has been established to develop proposals, but for reasons of size has not been designed to be representative of the various groups. A forum will be held before publication to ensure that stakeholder groups and others have a formal opportunity to consider possible proposals and contribute their views. The department has already had submissions from a number of professional organisations and others are of course welcome to write with theirs. Whether or not there is formal consultation on the action plan or elements of it will depend on the nature of the measures.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Asylum seekers apply to be granted refugee status in the UK rather than specifically in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Asylum applications data are not available at regional level.
	Information on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is published quarterly and annually. Copies of these publications and others relating to general immigration to the UK are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.

Lord Warner: It is not possible to differentiate claims made against obstetricians and midwife-led teams. The table shows the payments in the past five years for all claims where the injury was either brain damage or cerebral palsy.
	
		
			 Payments made over the past five years on obstetrics, obstetrics/gynaecology, community midwifery and antenatal clinic claims where the injury was either brain damage or cerebral palsy 
			 Payment Year Compensation 
			 2001-02 320,447,750 
			 2002-03 174,476,205 
			 2003-04 105,608,870 
			 2004-05 173,148,369 
			 2005-06 188,792,357 
			 Total 962,473,551 
			 Note: In 2001-02, claims under the clinical negligence scheme for trusts were centralised and payments include reimbursements to trusts for interim amounts made on cases not yet resolved.

Lord Luke: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether, following their objective to deliver the London Olympic Games on an all-party basis, they intend to agree all aspects of the overall budgetfor the London 2012 Olympic Games with representatives from the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The operational management of contracted sector prisons has always been the responsibility of the contractor for each of the11 establishments. This has been the situation both prior to and following the closure of the Officefor Contracted Prisons at the end of March 2006.The Home Office is responsible for contractual management, ensuring that contractors deliver the service as set out in the individual contracts. The chief executive of the National Offender Management Service is the ultimate authority for each contract. With the exception of HMP & YOI Ashfield, this is delegated to regional offender managers for the area where the prison is located. Within each of the contracted establishments is a Home Office controller whose task is to ensure adherence to the contract on a day-to-day basis and to take remedial action in the event of non-compliance. The Home Office controllers are line-managed through the regional offender manager. The attached table lists contracted adult establishments and their respective regional offender managers.
	
		
			 Establishment Region Regional Offender Manager 
			 HMP Altcourse North-west Ms Liz Hill 
			 HMP Bronzefield South-east Mrs Sarah Payne 
			 HMP & YOI Doncaster Yorkshire and Humberside Mr Paul Wilson 
			 HMP Dovegate West Midlands Mr Steve Goode 
			 HMP Forest Bank North-west Ms Liz Hill 
			 HMP Lowdham Grange East Midlands Ms Linda Jones 
			 HMP & YOI Parc Offender Management Service Wales Ms Sian West 
			 HMP Peterborough East of England Mr Trevor Williams 
			 HMP Rye Hill East Midlands Ms Linda Jones 
			 HMP Wolds Yorkshire and Humberside Mr Paul Wilson

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The director-general of HM Prison Service has no direct operational responsibility for contracted sector prisons, although some elements of policy work from HMPS directly impact on the contracted sector.

Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What area of land has so far been designated or protected under sections 128 to 138 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The fixed penalty procedures working group has not taken such evidence. In reviewing the level of fixed penalties, the group normally considers relevant factors that might justify an across-the-board increase in the level of the standard fixed penalties and the small number of non-standard fixed penalties. It would not be practical to review individually the level of every fixed penalty.
	The group has to date received no representation proposing an increase in the fixed penalty level for failing to comply with a statutory weight restriction.

Lord Carlile of Berriew: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	On how many occasions physical restraint was used at Ashfield young offender institution on, respectively, male and female clients during each of the 12 months prior to 1 November; and
	On how many occasions physical restraint occurred at Ashfield young offender institution in relation to, respectively, male and female black and ethnic minority clients during each of the 12 months prior to 1 November; and
	On how many occasions strip-searching involving physical restraint occurred at Ashfield young offender institution in relation to, respectively, male and female clients during each of the 12 months prior to 1 November.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The attached table lists the number of incidents where physical restraint was used at HMP & YOI Ashfield during the months November 2005 through to October 2006. Also included are figures for the number of black and minority ethnic (BME) boys subject to physical restraint. The prison does not strip-search boys under physical restraint. Ashfield is a juvenile establishment that accommodates only males.
	
		
			 HMP & YOI Ashfield: use of physical restraint November 2005 to October 2006 
			 Month Incidents where physical restraint is used Black and minority ethnic prisoners involved in physical restraint Full searching (strip-searching) involving physical restraint 
			 November 2005 52 10 0 
			 December 2005 30 3 0 
			 January 2006 48 11 0 
			 February 2006 34 8 0 
			 March 2006 30 4 0 
			 April 2006 27 10 0 
			 May 2006 42 6 0 
			 June 2006 31 2 0 
			 July 2006 40 5 0 
			 August 2006 51 11 0 
			 September 2006 38 12 0 
			 October 2006 52 4 0 
			 Total 475 86 0

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The following table shows the number of times approved control and restraint techniques were used, in addition to other incidents where use of force was applied, in the 12 months prior to 1 November. All the establishments hold male young offenders only.
	
		
			 Date (HL488) Brinsford (HL489) Castington (HL490) Feltham (HL491) Hindley (HL492) Lancaster Farms 
			 November 2005 22 29 100 40 44 
			 December 2005 28 25 69 31 48 
			 January 2006 24 22 75 37 41 
			 February 2006 23 43 78 36 48 
			 March 2006 19 28 98 40 25 
			 April 2006 19 27 61 37 23 
			 May 2006 25 19 110 44 39 
			 June 2006 17 25 81 41 48 
			 July 2006 15 39 82 52 32 
			 August 2006 16 34 76 41 35 
			 September 2006 18 33 58 46 35 
			 October 2006 19 41 70 40 28 
			 Total 245 365 958 485 446 
		
	
	
		
			 Date (HL492) Lancaster Farms (HL493) Huntercombe (HL494) Stoke Heath (HL495) Thorn Cross (HL496) Warren Hill 
			 November 2005 44 43 37 1 16 
			 December 2005 48 46 59 0 11 
			 January 2006 41 68 62 0 10 
			 February 2006 48 18 60 0 10 
			 March 2006 25 29 56 4 13 
			 April 2006 23 45 40 0 7 
			 May 2006 39 46 45 1 21 
			 June 2006 48 34 62 0 14 
			 July 2006 32 41 42 0 21 
			 August 2006 35 44 62 0 7 
			 September 2006 35 29 41 1 13 
			 October 2006 28 26 31 1 16 
			 Total 446 469 597 8 159